Nineteen seventy-nine was a momentous year.  In my little world, college graduation was celebrated with enthusiasm and zeal.  In the world at large, the Iranian revolution occurred – and wreaked havoc and destruction in ways neither the Iranians nor the rest of the world could have ever imagined. At the time, being an educated and low-information voter, as we know they are synonymous, I paid little attention to these circumstances except to understand that the Shah and his secret police, the Savak, were deposed; a medieval-looking, menacing ayatollah took over the country; and Americans were held hostage, eventually being released. Fast-forward several years.  Glimpses of this backward country were revealed through various media.  The movie Not Without My Daughter revealed the riveting account of an American woman married to an Iranian and her attempts and eventual success in escaping the hellhole where she found herself.  Geraldine Brooks's...(Read Full Article)